Too Close For Comfort
by bookworm-gurl
Summary: I think this was posted before, but I removed it to make drastic changes. Three different cases happen, a dead stripper, a dead chick behind and hunting lodge, and a dead woman at a home, Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1 Three Case One Night

**Author Note:** This story is a newer remake of my fanfic "Troublesome Love", I had to make some drastic changes but it has been taking me awhile to do that because of school. New chapters will be added to this soon! I think it goes up to 12 or 13 so that'll be alot of reading lol! Enjoy & please review! Thnx!

**Too Close For Comfort**

Sara was getting ready to go into work. She worked the Graveyard shift with her Colleges Grissom, Catherine, Nick and Warrick at the Las Vegas Crime Lab. She was in the midst of taking a shower when the phone in the kitchen began to ring. Sara couldn't hear it because of the running water until she turned the taps off. She then realized that her phone was ringing and decided she had better answer it incase it was someone important.

"Shit!" she yelled into the empty bathroom.

Sara grabbed a towel off of the rack next the shower and wrapped it around herself. She ran down the hallway and into her kitchen. Her wet feet slid across the ceramic floor of her kitchen as she picked up her cordless phone from the wall mount and pressed the talk button. Thankfully she reached it before the person hung up.

"Hello" she said half giggling, half speaking into the receiver.

"Hey Hun, how are you? What's so funny?" the man asked.

"Oh nothing," Sara replied and smiled to herself.

"Okay...What took you so long to answer you're phone?"

"Sorry about that, I was in the midst of taking a shower and I didn't hear the phone ringing" she replied.

Sara walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out the carton of Orange Juice. She grabbed a glass from above her and poured some of the OJ into the glass.

"Damn, too bad I wasn't over there right now." he said and Sara perked her ears. She knew what he meant by that comment. "Today after shift, do you want to go out for breakfast?" he said breaking the awkward silence.

"Sure, but if I'm going to actually be at work I have to get dressed. I don't think Grissom would appreciate me coming into work naked," Sara said as she put the orange juice container back in the fridge.

"Well...that's not entirely true." he replied and snickered, he could just picture the look that Sara had on her face when he made that comment.

Sara would have punched him in the stomach for that last comment, but he wasn't in the room at the moment, so that would have to wait until work. "I'm going to disregard that last comment mister." Sara replied and the man went into a fit of giggles.

"Oh Sarbear, you need to lighten up." he replied and then looked at the clock, 40 mins until the beginning of shift. "Since you have about 30 mins to get ready before you are late for work, for once. I'll let you go so you can go like a mad woman and get ready for another night of death. See you soon, bye" he snickered and hung up.

Sara pressed the "end" button and just shook her head at her lovers last remark. She was about to put the phone down on the counter when she thought someone else, more important might call, like Grissom and she didn't want to take her chances sliding on the hardwood floor for the second time that evening. She wanted to investigate the crime scenes, not become one.

Sara walked back down the hallway with her soaked hair dripping all over the hard wood floor with the cordless phone still in her hand. She walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind her so she could get ready for work.

Thirty minuets later she reached the lab just in time. At least he couldn't say she was late, she was just on time. Of course she had to eat on the run and not even both to dry her soaking wet hair. She forgot that it got cold at night in Vegas thinking the heat would dry it but now she was at risk of getting sick. Sara thought that if she wore a hat she should be fine, at least until break when she can use the hand dryers to dry it a bit more.

Sara pulled into the parking lot and parked at the end of the row of 4 black Tahoe's. Each criminologist had their own. Sara cut her engine and hopped out of her truck seeing Warrick heading into the building. She waved at her co-worker who waved back and patently waited for her to join him at the door.

"Hey Warrick," Sara said as both of them showed the receptionist their ID's heading towards the locker room.

"Hey Sara, Umm why is your hair wet?" Warrick asked as they passed Greg in DNA jamming to some punk rock.

"I was in a rush, and didn't have a chance to dry it."

"Ah, lover boy called didn't he?" Warrick snickered and Sara playfully punched him in the arm. "Ouch, you shouldn't be so rough Sidle," Warrick playfully whimpered and headed to the break room as Sara headed to the lockers.

Sara pushed open the swing door and headed over to her locker labeled _Sidle_. She unlocked the combination lock and placed her purse, and jacket inside and then locked it back up.

Sara was heading back out when she heard a moaning noise coming from on the other side of the lockers followed by a bang as something hit the metal locker. Sara had her hand hovering over her gun she had strapped to her side. She was anticipating the worse case scenario, one of her co-workers injured or a killer hidden behind the corner of the lockers. Sara peeked around the corner and just about fainted.

Her older colleagues; Catherine and Grissom were entwined in a passionate kiss. This was something new to Sara, she had never seen them affectionate at work, and well she had never seen Grissom even show affection. The little green jealously bug was beginning to form in the pit of her stomach. She had always been attracted to Grissom, and was crushed when he admitted that he wouldn't risk his career to be with her. To her the relationship he was having with Catherine was kinda the same thing he denied with her. They were colleagues, and if anyone found out about this both of them would be fired. Why would he take the risk with Catherine and not her? Was it because they know each other inside out and friends wasn't enough for them anymore? Sara made a mental not to ask him that sometime.

She decided that instead of peering around the corner of the lockers and looking like a pervert she would leave the two of them alone. Sara headed back to the door and grabbed the handle when she could hear Nick and Warrick's voices booming down the hallway. They were discussing football, what else would they be talking about.

The door swung open as Nick and Warrick walked in laughing about something when they almost bumped right into Sara who was trying to leave as quickly as possible but the two men blocked her way. She was trapped, and knew that the guys were going to say something unless they didn't see the two of them. Too late. Warrick could hear moaning coming from the side of the locker and went to go check it out and couldn't turn his eyes away. This was one of those times when he wished he had a camera handy.

"Go Grissom!" Warrick yelled and Nick laughed and Sara shook her head at his childish outburst.

Grissom stopped kissing Catherine at the sound of a male's voice, more specifically Warrick's. He opened his eyes and spotted Warrick smiling, Nick laughing and Sara trying her best to avoid eye contact. Catherine finally caught on to why Grissom stopped kissing her at the sight of a crowd of her co-workers. She just as quickly escaped his grasp as she had entered it 20 minuets ago. A beat red blush crept across both of their faces.

"I've been trying to get that for years," Warrick said, "What's your secret Griss?" Warrick asked playfully and saw the look in Catherine's eyes. Something big was going to go down in the next 3 minuets; Sara could just sense it.

"It's very simple," Catherine said walking towards Warrick with a smile on her face. Warrick new it wasn't one of sincerity it was one of darkness, the evilness cooped up inside Catherine's body and it was just about to get released on him. "See," Catherine whispered as she traced a finger down the front of his chest and Gil smiled knowing she was taunting him. "He's a lot cuter than you," Catherine whispered into Warrick's ear as Warrick frowned. Her lips were centimeters away from his when she smiled and said, "And a lot better in bed then you'll ever be." Catherine answered as she backed off and headed towards the door seeing the smile on Sara's face, women know how to bait men, and Catherine just did it, hook, line and sinker.

"Do you know that from experience?" Nick asked as Catherine stopped midway out the door.

Catherine smiled spinning on her heel facing Nick with a devilish smile plastered on her face. She could see the fear slowly growing in his green eyes anticipating what she was going to say to him. Sara couldn't help but giggle as she stood back and watched as Catherine was preparing for the kill.

"Nick, do you think that because you were in a frat house during college and probably did do alot of drinking and probably did sleep with a lot of women makes you good in bed?" Catherine asked as Warrick couldn't help but snicker. She was fierce when she wanted to be.

"Uh, no" Nick said as his cheeks were beginning to get red.

"So then the less people you sleep with makes you better in bed?" she questioned as the look of confusion appeared on the young mans face.

"No,"

"Well then, I guess when I say Warrick's not as good as Grissom it must mean that he's a virgin then right?"

Sara couldn't help but laugh at how Catherine was so keenly diverting the attention away from Nick's embarrassing past back to Warrick's sex life. It was a trick that many women use on men, reverse psychology.

"I don't know,"

"Well if you don't know, then how do I know if he's good in bed or not?" Catherine asked as she began to walk closer towards him. Grissom was enjoying this just as much as Sara was.

"You..." Nick said and then stopped, he was totally confused and it was just the beginning of shift. "Damn it Catherine, I have no clue," Nick spat and Sara stifled a laugh.

"Don't start assuming answers to questions you know nothing about" Catherine replied and walked out of the locker room.

"Damn she's good," Warrick breathed and everyone bursted out laughing.

Warrick and Grissom left the locker room as they left the other lovebirds alone for a few moments before heading to the break room for assignments. Sara could see the defeat in her boyfriend's eyes, Catherine was rough with how she handled that question, but he did deserve it. "Come here baby," Sara said as she opened her arms and Nick walked over as they gave each other a hug.

Sara balled up her fist and punched him as hard as she could in the stomach as he screamed out owe. Sara smiled and looked at the pain in Nick's face giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"What the hell was that for?" Nick asked catching his breath.

"For that comment you made on the phone earlier" Sara replied and walked out of the locker room. Nick smiled and knew that payback was going to happening some time for that comment and took no offence to the punch.

He left the locker room catching up with Sara as they walked hand in hand down the hallway towards the break room to meet with everyone else for assignments. Nick was holding on to Sara's hand. The two of them had been dating for 3 months now and like Catherine and Grissom they where caught making out, except there was in one of the layout rooms and it wasn't by the team but by Greg. He joked about that kiss of the longest time until Grissom threatened to fire him if he brought it up ever again.

Catherine was at the break room before everyone else when her cell phone went off. She answered it and wished she didn't, it was her ex husband Eddie. Grissom came into the break room seconds later when he heard Catherine screaming at Eddie finishing her conversation with a nice, welcoming screw you. Grissom decided not to ask who, although he already had a good idea of whom it was.

Everyone else entered the break room minuets later. Catherine walked over to the counter joining Grissom and poured herself a cup of coffee to try and hide her tears from the others.

"All right," Grissom said returning to his supervisor mode. "Nick, you and Sara have a 406, at 69 Pleasant drive." Grissom stated and handed Nick the assignment slip as he continued. "Warrick you have a dead body found in a sewer behind a man's Hunting Lodge." he looked up and saw the confused look on Warrick's face as he took the assignment slip out of his hand. "Catherine, you and I have a dead stripper at a nightclub" Grissom finished and looked over at Catherine seeing she was wiping away tears. He wanted to comfort her, but he couldn't with everyone around, another burn match would happen between Catherine and the guys. There was enough drama between the team to last a year that happened in the last 10 minuets.

"Trying to keep all of the women to your self Grissom?" Nick commented and Warrick snickered, Grissom however did not.

"We have a hunting lodge in Vegas? I mean what is there to hunt out in the dessert unless you're hunting armadillos " Warrick stated changing the subject.

"Don't be a whinny kid," Catherine snapped and Warrick's eye got wide. "Why don't you grow up and figure some stuff out on your own Sherlock" Catherine replied covering her sadness with an evil smile.

"Looks like someone forgot to takeher Midol today," Warrick mumbled. Catherine was ready to pounce on him like a wild cat when Grissom held her back.

"Alright that's enough you two. You're both adults and professionals and are at the moment acting like childish 6 year olds who need to be watched 24/7. The lab is not a day care it is a place of work. Now I want you both to behave." Grissom said and looked at Catherine. "I want you to stop with your sassy comebacks," and then he looked at Warrick, "I want you to stop with your smart ass remarks. Are we clear?" Grissom said. It was the first time for a while he had to put his foot down. He knew that if he didn't, WWF Smack down would have started up in here.

"Crystal" Catherine muttered.

"Ready Sarbear?" Nick said changing the subject. Sara had her eyes glued on Catherine. She knew something was wrong, it was woman's intuition to sense those things, but she couldn't figure out what. "Sara?" Nick asked for the second time.

"Huh," Sara said and shook her head smiling, "Yeah lets go" Sara said, she smiled and got up as Nick followed behind, followed by Warrick. Catherine and Grissom were left alone again.

"Ready Cath?" Gil asked seeing the pain in his lovers' eyes. He knew Eddie brought the worst out in her, and now she was working a case with a stripper, what a way to destroy the person you love's night. "I know you're probably mad at me for assigning you to a case involving strippers, but you are the expert. I mean you used to be one." Grissom stated, trying to be as curt as possible.

Catherine looked up from the crack in the floor and directly into his eyes. She knew that he was trying his best to be sincere, as she knew that he could tell something was bothering her. Catherine smiled at her lovers attempt and said. "It's okay Griss, I'm ready to protect Sin City from one more bad guy," Catherine replied and gave Grissom a peck on the cheek. "It just keeps making it safer for Lindsay when she grows up" she said and left the break room with Grissom following behind.


	2. Chapter 2 Confessions

**Chapter 2 - Confessions**

Nick and Sara were in Nick's Tahoe heading down the Strip towards 69 Pleasant Drive. They got stuck in traffic at midnight; it wasn't even 5 o'clock rush hour. Although that didn't really exist in Vegas, every hour was rush hour.

Sara wasn't in the mood for talking, she was sitting rigid in her chair looking out the window as the florescent colours of red, blue, and white danced across her eyes. She watched as many people were going in and leaving the Pairs Paris Hotel and Casino. She looked at the Eiffel tower and saw a couple was riding up to the top to see a view to die for. The tower was high enough that it gave you a bird's eye view of Las Vegas. You could see every hotel and casino on the strip from that one point. Sara wasn't thinking about how romantic that must be for that couple, her mind was preoccupied with what could be bothering her older, wiser colleague and friend Catherine.

"What they say about this City and how it never sleeps, it's true, no matter what time of day it is, you always get stuck in traffic." Nick stated and smiled. His voice was the only other one in the car, besides the radio playing "Feels Just Like it Should" by Jamiroquai.

He took his eyes off the road for a second, knowing that they were not going to be going anywhere anytime soon. The line of cars ahead of them and behind them had to be close to a world record. It would be all stop and go until they reached Blue Diamond Road. Nick turned to Sara seeing she was staring mindlessly out her window. Nick smiled knowing that when she had that look on her face that everyone considered to be the "Grissom look" she was deep in thought.

"Sara?" Nick asked as he reached out his arm and gently touched her shoulder.

The sudden touch of someone else made Sara jump as he mind came back to the present realizing she was in the Tahoe with Nick. She turned her head to Nick and gave a smug smile noticing that they were finally moving forward. It wasn't long that Nick slammed on the breaks before he rear-ended the car in front of him. They stopped again at the same red light; the whole Tahoe moved a record breaking 2 feet.

"Did you say something?" Sara asked innocently.

"I said that this city never sleeps," Nick repeated. "Don't you agree?"

"Yeah just like Samara," Sara mumbled under her breath.

"What did you say?" Nick asked a little confused.

"Oh nothing," Sara said and placed her hand on top of his that was on the steering wheel. "I guess having that all horror movie night is catching up to me." she confessed and leaned in giving him a peck on the cheek. "Even though I am a person who loves to stay up for day's on end, the payback sucks."

Nick smiled and laughed as the Tahoe began moving forward again, and then stopping again. Thank god they weren't paramedics or their victim would have been dead by the time they got there.

After 20 minuets of being stuck in traffic on the strip they turned on to Blue Diamond Road that was virtually disserted. Nick then made a hard left turn on to Swing line Ave. They went to almost the end of the street when they turned right on to Pleasant Ave. Sara and Nick could see the sirens parked in front of the home of their victim and a group of reporters and noisy neighbors standing around the crime scene tape trying to get the whole story so they could gab to their friends about it. Nick parked the Tahoe up beside one of the squad cars and both of them hopped out meeting up with Sergeant O'Riley.

"What took you two so long? We called this in about an hour ago," O'Riley asked coming to the Tahoe seeing the two CSIs getting their equipment out of the trunk.

"Traffic's heavy tonight," Nick stated slamming the Tahoe trunk shut.

"What do we have O'Riley?" Sara asked.

"White, female, twenty six years old, one gun shot to the head." O'Riley stated opening up his notebook to fill in the investigators. "Her house was also trashed, could be a robbery gone bad. A neighbor heard a gun shot and called the cops." He explained as they were walking up the walkway to the front door.

"Thanks O'Riley" Nick said as Sara and him entered the dwelling.

They turned on their maglite illuminating the dark musky room. Sara pointed the small beam of light along the walls seeing pictures slanted to the sides, and the glass frames were all broken. She scanned the tops of the shelves and furniture seeing that everything on top was now down on the floor. Someone really did tear that room apart.

Both Nick and Sara covered their mouths at the smell of the body, they knew she had been dead for some time, as the blood was beginning to smell as it was reaching room temperature. Chairs were flipped over; the fabric seat cushions of the couch were ripped open as some of the padding was seeping out. Someone seemed to be looking for something specific. Books were scattered all across the floor pages ripped out of some and the covers were all splattered with blood.

In the middle of the whirlpool of destruction lay the woman. Sara was beginning to get a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach when she saw the condition the body was in, this scene was beginning to look a little too familiar. The woman was laying face down with a pool of her own blood near her head. One whole was in the back of her head from the gun. It looked like a close contact shot, judging by the crater left as the result. The ends of her waist long blonde hair where dyed red from the blood. She was naked from the waist up covered with a multitude bruises on her back as if someone had beaten her before shooting her. The scene then might not be from a robber but from a struggle.

"Toto were in Kansas again," Sara said breaking the eerie silence.

"Man that smell is getting to me, doesn't it bother you?" Nick asked looking over at Sara who was beginning to take pictures of the scene.

"Breathe through your mouth Nick," Sara said as she knelt down taking close up of the victim. Nick could see that this whole scene was getting to Sara, as she was staring at the victim for a period of time after taking the pictures.

"Sara, do you know her?" Nick asked as he knelt down beside her.

"Huh, no, I was just...thinking" Sara replied as she got up and went back to her kit. If she kept doing her job and didn't let her mind wonder then everything would be fine.

"Sara, don't lie to me, I know how you feel about these sort of cases, if it bothers you, I can process the scene" Nick offered and Sara gave him a smile.

"Thanks, but no thanks Nick." She went back to work taking samples of the blood was Nick shrugged and started to process as well.

Nick picked up a bullet casing off the floor that was drenched in blood from the victim's head wound. He placed it into a clear evidence bag and placed it back in his kit.

"She seems to be a victim of domestic violence based on the bruises on her face and back" Sara replied as she walked around to the other side of the victim taking a look at her face. For a second Sara thought she saw someone she knew but then shook her head, it couldn't be here, she didn't live in Vegas.

"Sara," Nick stated as he came and joined her, "I have a question for you, its kind of personal" Nick asked trying to reach out to comfort her when she walked off to the corner of the room looking into the kitchen area.

"Shoot," Sara said as she ran her maglite through that room, nothing seemed to be out of order, except for a missing knife. She could have fought back, or the killer used it as a weapon.

"Do you not these cases because it happened to you?" Nick asked and watched as Sara looked like she was going to faint.

Sara stopped, about to take a picture of the knife holder with one knife missing. She dropped the camera down in front of her and stared into the empty kitchen. She knew that this day was going to come sometime, someone would ask her why she didn't like battered woman cases and some day she would have to tell them about San Francisco. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm her self down as images of what happened to her flooded her eyes and she collapsed on to her knees on the kitchen floor.

Nick came to her side, not really caring about contaminating anything at the crime scene. Seeing Sara collapse like that scared him, she was always a strong woman who could hold her own in any situation, and now she looking like a fragile little child. He looked into her eyes seeing the tears welling in the bottom of them as fear was growing in her pupils. He knew she was remembering something, something he figures that was horrible, something she wanted erased from her memory but instead was burned in it forever.

"Sara, Sara you okay?" Nick asked as he could hear her beginning to hyperventilate. He was afraid that she was going to pass out, or go into shock. "Sara, sweetheart, if you don't want to tell me now, you don't have to. I'm sorry" Nick said as he gave Sara a hug to show her that he was there for her.

"In San Francisco I was attacked in my apartment." Sara whispered in his ear. She hardly had a voice as Nick listened attentively to what she was saying. "I was taking a shower and I left my front door unlocked. The running water disguised the sound of his footsteps as he walked towards the bathroom." Sara continued as she began to whimper.

"Oh my god..." Nick stated and hugged her harder telling her she was safe and he was here for her.

Sara was beginning to cry uncontrollably and Nick could feel her giving a slight hiccup against his chest every once in awhile. She was having a hard time re-telling the story and he didn't blame her, this was a traumatic even that happened. He looked into her eyes and could see that she didn't want to continue, but if she didn't then it was taunt her for the rest of the night. Nick brushed away some of her tears trickling down her face when she opened her mouth to continue her story.

"He surprised me and he pulled me out of the shower. He threw me across the room, he hit me numerous time and then raped me, then he just left." Sara whispered as Nick couldn't handle this story anymore, but knew there was more to it. "I couldn't ID him because he wore a mask that covered his face. He ended up to the rapist that was loose in San Francisco and I was the CSI investigating it." Sara continued and Nick was about to break down and cry as well. "I became a victim of my own case!" Sara spat and cried more as Nick tried to calm her down. "I-I didn't report my incident. I was to scared that he would come after me once again." Sara finished as she cried for minuets on Nick's shoulder as the images of what happened were playing over and over again in her mind.

"It's alright Sara, shh, it's going to be alright" Nick said trying to calm her down. He had never seen her so fragile, so useless at trying to protect herself. The walls she had built up around herself over the years had come crumbling down when she told that story. "Don't worry sweetheart, you're safe here with me." Nick said and dreaded asking the next question. "Did they ever catch the guy?" Nick asked as he gave her a kiss on the cheek and she shook her head no.

"He's still out there" Nick said and Sara nodded her head yes. Nick wasn't sure if he heard correctly, he was still out on the streets. His girlfriend's rapist is still prowling around on other young, helpless, defenseless women. Sara could still in danger, he could come and get her again, at anytime. Nick knew he had to do anything to protect her.

"It's alright, your safe now, I'll protect you, I promise." Nick repeated as he helped Sara up to her feet. "Why don't you go and wait in the truck, I'll finish up the scene and come join you in a few minuets." Nick said and Sara nodded yes as she whipped away her tears and gave Nick a kiss.

Nick watched as Sara left the house and he tried to forget about the distraught situation she was in at the moment and got back to processing the scene.

O'Riley saw Sara leave the house just as the corner David was going into the house. He found it awkward that Sara was leaving, without her field kit in her hand and without Nick at her side. He caught a glimpse at her face and could see that her eyes were read and her cheeks were blotchy, she had been crying. O'Riley was a little surprised at that, he had never seen Sara get emotional over a crime scene like that, she was one of the most rock solid women O'Riley had ever met before in his life. He was about to go over at ask her what was the matter but then he saw Nick leaving the Crime Scene and decided to ask him instead.

"Hey Nick!" O'Riley called to the man as Nick headed over towards the sergeant.

"Yeah," Nick said wondering if he had anything else for them.

"Is Sara alright? I saw her leaving the scene before you, did you two get into a fight or something?"

Nick smiled, "No, she's just having a hard time right now. We'll keep you posted on what we find," Nick said showing him the bags of evidence from the house as O'Riley nodded.

Nick walked back to the Tahoe placing the evidence and two field kits back in the trunk of the car. He went around to the driver's side as he watched David wheel the body of the victim out of the house and into the ambulance. Nick hopped in the Tahoe hearing Sara crying as she was staring at nothing but the garage door to the house. Nick didn't know what to do, she was distraught and defiantly needed some alone time, but also needed to be comforted. He leaned over and gave her a big hug and Sara never wanted him to let go.

"I love you," Sara whispered as she gave him a kiss.

"I love you to Sarbear" Nick replied and kissed her on the nose before he started the truck and began their journey back to the Lab.


	3. Chapter 3 Strangled Stripper

**Chapter 3 Strangled Stripper**

Grissom and Catherine had the same problem as Nick and Sara; they got stuck in traffic. Grissom was beginning to get irritated with the tin boxes surrounding him. It was also eerie how it was dead silence, so to speak, in the truck itself. He took his eyes off the road for a moment and watched Catherine as she was looking out the passenger side window avoiding eye contact.

He studied her features, and at that moment wanted to finish off what they had started in the locker room an hour or so ago. He knew that she was the missing part of his soul that they were meant to be more than just good friends, but lovers. She was the people person side of him; she was the wild, crazy, more outgoing Grissom. He was the more laid back, quiet, kept to himself Catherine. The two of them together was one complete human being. Grissom just didn't know why it had taken them so long to get together. Of course there was Eddie, Sam Braun, and that guy who owned a nightclub through the years. He knew that none of those had worked, because they weren't meant to be, it wasn't fate.

At the thought of past loves, Grissom's mind wondered away from Catherine and back to Terri Miller, the forensic anthropologist who he, according to Catherine, went all "dopey eyed" around. He did have a thing for Terri; she was smart, beautiful, and even like tarantulas. There just wasn't that connection the two of them had, plus both of them were married to their work. The relationship would never have worked if Grissom was into his bugs and she was traveling across the country doing facial reconstructions.

Grissom then remembered Lady Heather. Lady Heather was a very special woman, she was very different then the other women Grissom had been fascinated with in the past but that's what attracted him to her. They both loved their tea, and the world Lady Heather worked and lived in enthralled Grissom. How she could be so care free, and open about everything, including her sexuality. He respected her to the fullest extent, even wanting more than to understand her and her life, but to be a part of it. It was his fault the relationship didn't work out. He said "stop" to soon, when she became a suspect in a murder at her work. Right when he made that call Lady Heather had nothing more to do with him.

Last, but certainly not least, was Sara. Sara was a very unique woman. She was a very intelligent woman, who could defiantly hold her own in almost any situation brought to her attention. She was one of his top students in San Francisco when he did the lecture on Entomological timelines. Without a doubt she certainly did have the features of an angel, he even admired the gap between her two front teeth. The only problem was that he was not attracted to her the same way she was to him. He knew Sara was head over heels for him for a few years, and when he worked that one case and confessed they could never have a relationship he could sense she was listening. Partially he blamed himself for her being an alcoholic. Only one thing bothered Grissom, why she became so emotional in some cases. He had been afraid to ask her why, thinking that he didn't want to invade on her private life, or didn't want to open any old wounds. She was one of the best CSI's on his team, and he did not want to loose her because of an impractical mistake.

Grissom slightly shook his head free of his thoughts of the past. He looked back out the windshield and could see the cars were finally beginning to move again. He moved the Tahoe a few feet forward and then slammed on the breaks again. Another red light, this could go on for hours.

Catherine seemed to be oblivious to everything happening around her. She had her eyes in the direction of the hotels and casino's but her mind was off somewhere else. The crime scene they were heading to was beginning to bring back memories of when she was young and new to this big bad city. How she got her first job as a stripper and loved to dance her heart out. She didn't care that she was making all the needy boys in Vegas happy, she would just shake her ass to the beat of the music. That was when she met Stephanie.

Stephanie was the type of woman to come by. She had both of her feet planted firmly on the ground yet she could be so free at times. Catherine and her had become best friends, making sure they would be working the same nights and would go out for drinks afterwards and talk about all the disgusting men they had come across that night. That was until the night she was murdered. Catherine was destroyed when the news came that her friend had been stabbed to death in the ally behind the club. It was the one and only night the two of them did not spend time together, and it was the night that ended her life. In a way Catherine felt responsible for her death. For the longest time she thought she could have prevented it, she didn't even go to work for at least a month, she wanted nothing to do with the place that she and Stephanie loved so much, that one just loved to death.

Almost six months after Stephanie's unjustified and horrible death Catherine met a guy who seemed to be the man of her dreams. His name was Eddie and the two of them hit it off right away. Eddie was exactly Catherine's type, cute and rich. Well he said he was rich, he said that he owned a record company and would make her a star someday by putting her in one of the music videos. Of course that never happened, but too late for Catherine, for she didn't find about the real Eddie until after they tied the knot and Catherine was six months pregnant.

Catherine had her daughter, Lindsey three months later and two months after that caught Eddie cheating. She threatened to get a divorce from him when he beat her so bad it put her in the hospital for a week. Child services brought Lindsey to Catherine in the hospital and charges were laid on Eddie and the divorce was under way. It took the divorce almost 5 years to become final and Eddie was nothing but a burden to Catherine the whole time.

When Catherine was hired as a lab tech at the Las Vegas Crime Lab by Grissom and worked her way up to being a CSI level three in ten years, her paycheck rose and Eddies demand for money became something to familiar. Sadly, because of Lindsey he was allowed to see his daughter every weekend, which meant Catherine had to see him as well. Just when she thought she was free, the damn courts held her back a little.

Catherine's cell phone began to ring in her purse. Grissom could hear it and finally on the fourth ring Catherine heard it as well. She snapped back into reality and rummaged through her bottomless purse to find the ringing phone. Finally on the eighth ring she grabbed it, flipped open the cover, and pressed the send button.

"Willows," Catherine said flicking her head back as her hair whipped behind her head.

"Cath, please listen to me" A mans voice said on the other line.

"Eddie, what the hell do you want?" Catherine said raising her voice. She looked over at Gil and could see the look in his eyes; he didn't want her to get upset all over again. "Look now is not a good time to be talking to me, I'm heading towards a scene," Catherine said and smiled at Gil who smiled back. "Come over after shift and we'll talk" Catherine replied and hung up before he could protest.

Grissom was trying not to think about Catherine and her never ending problem Eddie as they had finally turned on to Boulder Highway heading to the back allies of Vegas. Gil still didn't understand why she ever loved or even married the guy. He knew her past, how she was abused, and left to fend for herself and a beautiful baby girl.

Catherine was staring at Grissom who was staring out the window at the darkness that surrounded them. Not a car was on the road and the vibrant lights of the Strip were now behind them. Not that she was complaining she liked being alone with Gil, because when they were alone he was more open about his life. There was a lot Catherine had learnt over the past few months of them dating, then she had known about him in the ten years they have been friends. She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek as he smiled and they drove the rest of the way in silence.

Twenty minuets later they had finally reached the nightclub. Catherine and Grissom parked beside Brass's parked silver Taurus. They grabbed their equipment and headed into the club. Once they got through the first door there was a guy that stood by the second door. Both Catherine and Grissom flashed him their ID's that were around their necks and he opened the door for them.

A rush of loud dance music flooded Catherine and Grissom's ears almost knocking them both off their feet. The room smelled like cigarette smoke and cheap outdated beer. The atmosphere of this club was bringing back memories of when Catherine was twenty and dancing to the beat of the music up on the stage. There was a fair sized stage in the middle of the room that had four poles bolted into it for four dancers to be up on the stage at one time. Situated around the stage numerous tables and chairs were scattered for all the happy customers that came to the club to see the dancers, any of the four dancers they wanted they could see from any seat in the house.

The stage it self was empty at the moment, most likely because all the dancers where being questioned in the dressing room at the back. There weren't that many customers either, unless those where the only smart ones to stick around and be a witness to a crime.

In the back near the dressing room there were private dance rooms or 'lap dance' rooms as the dancers and customers nickname them. The custom décor for one of those rooms was usually two chairs for two happy customers and a mini stage for the dancer to dance on. There were no doors to the rooms, as the music from out in the main area would come flooding down the hallway and into the small rooms. Unlike other places there is no glass wall that divides the dancer from the customers. That makes it a whole lot easier to murder someone and a lot more personal.

"Bring back memories?" Grissom asked Catherine as she was staring at what she used to call home.

"Yeah it does, thank god I got out of the trade when I did." Catherine said and looked at Grissom. "I would hate to end up like the lovely lady were about to see tonight." Catherine replied walking over towards the Bar where she saw Brass talking with someone.

"Catherine Willows, Gil Grissom this is Brad Conner the owner of the club." Brass said introducing everyone, even though Catherine knew who he was. "Our victim is in the back in one of the private rooms." Brass said.

"Grissom you go with Brass I'll catch up in a few minutes," Catherine said.

"Alright," Grissom said and smiled. He followed Brass down through the club towards the private rooms situated at the back. The two men went down the hallway and into their fresh Crime Scene.

"How have you been Catherine?" Brad asked as he finished polishing a shot glass. "I haven't seen you since you quit here ten years ago. I see your working with the cops," Brad said.

"I'm good Brad," Catherine replied and smiled. "It's been awhile since we've talked," Catherine replied and Brad nodded in agreement.

The old friend talked for a little longer then Catherine left, saying they may need to talk about what happened in a bit and headed towards the Crime Scene. She passed many door-less rooms with a stage and two chairs. She had fond memories of doing private dances in those small rooms, and was always tipped extra. Catherine kept going until she reached the one with a police officer standing guard and yellow crime scene tape that extended from one side of the door frame to the other. She showed the officer her ID and he allowed her in the scene.

On the stage lying down on her back was the victim. She was only wearing a red g-string and her long brown hair covered her breasts that have obviously had some work done on. She had a rope or something tied around her neck, possible murder weapon.

Catherine snapped a few pictures and cautiously removed the rope from around her neck and placed it in an evidence bag without disturbing anything else.

Grissom took some pictures of a white globby looking substance on the carpet floor and removed a swab from in his kit. He swabbed the area and Catherine looked down at what her partner had discovered.

"We don't need Greg to tell us what that is," Catherine snickered as Grissom closed up the swab to preserve the evidence.

"I guess I found something that was left by one of the numerous overjoyed customers that was in this room," Grissom standing up beside Catherine.

"Someone's soldiers are now murder suspects." Catherine replied and Grissom smiled.


	4. Chapter 4 Home Sweet Sewer

**Chapter 4 Home Sweet Sewer**

Warrick was one of the lucky ones. He didn't get stuck in the traffic of the busy strip. The only reason was because he had to go the other way; out towards the desert. Warrick still couldn't believe that there was a Hunting lodge out in Nevada. It wouldn't make much money out in a dessert; they would need a forest, unless they did there hunting out near Lake Mead, or it wasn't for hunting animals? Maybe it was like a game where the hunter became the _hunted_.

In the past Warrick had accomplished many cases solo. He could still remember back 5 years ago when he and Nick were in a race to solve 100 cases to become a CSI level 2. Then Warrick loved to be alone, he wouldn't have to worry about consulting with his partner about the case he could get it all done his way and as fast as possible. That was until he became responsible for the death of newbie Holly Gribbs. It was his own idiotic mistake that sadly cost the young woman her life. Ever since then he made sure he had every one of his co-workers backs, especially Sara and Catherine. He didn't want to make the same mistake twice.

Although tonight was one of those nights when you could feel it in your bones that you didn't want to be alone. You could just sense that it was going to be a hard case, one that you wish you could exhale some of that tension you have on your partner. Warrick could feel this was going to be one of those cases that investigators hate to investigate.

After fifteen minuets heading down the I-15 Warrick had finally reached the Hunting Lodge. He turned into the parking lot as the blur of police sirens flooded the windshield. They lit up the pitch-black sky with a rainbow of red, white and blue. Warrick parked the Tahoe and hopped out seeing detective Conroy standing at the entrance into the lodge.

Warrick went around to the truck and retrieved his silver crime scene kit looking up at the sign near the road. It was defiantly old, and needed to be replaced. Dirty and desert sand clung to the bent rusted metal sign as if it was glued on. Warrick saw the words "Hunting Lodge" in faded red paint. Below the word Lodge was a small work "Inn". It was covered by dirt and was hardly readable, it was no wonder the caller got this place mixed up with a real lodge. Warrick smiled to himself, making a mental note to tell Catherine about that.

Warrick then looked at the building it self and it defiantly needed a face-lift. The outside looked like it was built back in the 1930's. Big wooden doors lined the walkway some of them with numbers and someone of them with an imprint of numbers on them from were a number plate used to hang. The curtains on the windows had moth bite-sized holes in them as well as being covered in dirt, or some other brown substance. The windows to each room were a fair size and most of them had screens on them, although some did not. Bugs swarmed around the rooms and the front lights to some of the motel rooms were burnt out while others were almost dead. Obviously this place had not been inhabited by anyone with personal hygiene issues for at least a decade. This place should be torn down and made into a new Steven Wynn hotel and Casino.

He shook his head and headed over to where detective Conroy was questioning the owner of this dump, getting as much information as possible. Warrick took one glimpse at the man and now knew why this place was such a dump. He was the dirtiest, stinkiest man Warrick had ever seen in Vegas. He made drunks and bums on the street seem like well-groomed citizens. The owner was dressed in a pair of jean overalls that had stains from any kind of fluid splattered all over them. The t-shirt he had on underneath had holes in it and there used to be a logo in the middle of the front but because he wore it so much the logo was faded, or covered with so much grime. Big pit stains were under his arms that looked to be a mix of old and new sweat. Bugs galore swarmed around his head and were feasting on his hair that was probably never washed. Warrick wanted to gag, and give Conroy an award for sticking it out and questioning the guy.

Conroy looked up from her notepad and saw Warrick approaching her. She smiled and motioned for another officer to come and look after their witness. Conroy walked over to Warrick meeting him half way as they shared welcoming smiles with each other.

"Hey Conroy, what do we have at motel stink a lot?" Warrick asked as he set his kit down on the ground.

"Dead Caucasian female late teens, wrapped in a blanket." Conroy explained regurgitating the information out of her notebook. "The owner of the hotel went out back for a cigarette when he spotted the body. He then claims that he called the police." Conroy finished as she flipped it shut.

"Shall we go see our lady of the dump," Warrick said and Conroy led the way.

They went around to the back on the motel as Conroy lifted up the crime scene tap for Warrick to duck under. He clicked on his flashlight as he ran it across the ditch that was a few feet away when the beam came across the blanket. Warrick made his way slowly, making sure not to disturb any footprint and realized it was the body of the young woman. Judging by what her appearance was, setting aside the big purple and blue bruise on her face Conroy was in the right ballpark of age.

Warrick noticed that the blanket was tied tight with several pieces of rope around the victim to make sure the least amount of exposure came to her decaying corpse, and probably hoping to delay the time of discovery. As Warrick studied the features of his young victim and began taking snap shots he saw that her brown eyes and shoulder length brown hair reminded him of Sara. He stared at her for so long that he had to think twice to make sure it that he wasn't looking at her and just his victim.

He stood up examining the area around the body noticing the conditions of the ditch in which she was dumped. It was covered with mud and stones and was a little squishy underneath his work boots. Warrick knew that the little rain Las Vegas does get came two nights ago. It could cause a time line for when she was ditched here. Warrick also noticed the stones that were all over the ditch; one of those probably gave the victim her head wound, as it seemed to be pretty fresh.

When the killer dumped her here, probably from throwing her up were Conroy was standing to avoid leaving footprints all the way down the ditch her head that was poking out of the human burrito hit a rock. As he scanned the rocks on the ditch near her he found one with blood and hair, the one that was the post mortem weapon. Big Rats and a Grissom bug party was happening on the corpse, feeding mostly on the head wound as maggots were beginning to fester there. Warrick could use those for an entomological time line, although he may need to steal Grissom away from Catherine for a few moments, if that's possible.

David, the assistant corner was already there waiting for Warrick to examine and collect the evidence he needed off the body before she could be moved. Warrick finished taking the pictures that he needed and put all the evidence he collected in bags and into his kit to bring back to the lab for comparison. Warrick began to make his way away from the body dump and signaled to David that him and his co-worker can work their magic.

Carefully David and his assistant worked there way down to the body with a gurney, careful not to disturb any evidence. Both of the men took an end of the wrapped up girl and placed her up on top of the stretcher. They wheeled it back up to the top were everyone else was standing and stopped as Warrick snapped on a fresh pair of Latex gloves and took advantage of the light up at the top and took some more pictures of the woman's face.

At first glance she looked to be a victim of a domestic fight. Her face was covered with bruises and there was a long gash across her left cheek that was made by some sort of sharp tool, most likely a knife. He would have to wait until he got back to the lab to do some comparisons.

Conroy walked up standing beside the CSI, getting her first good look at the victim. She noticed the bruises on the woman's face and turned her head away not being able to stomach a girl like that being dead, but being dead and beaten. Conroy was like Sara; hated cases that had to do with spousal abuse.

"We'll know about the cause of death and what condition her body is in when Doc Robbins unwraps her from the blanket. But we will get tons of evidence off of the blanket as well" Warrick said and nodded for David to transport her to the morgue.

"I hate cases with teen girls, it makes me think of what sicko's we have out on the streets in this town." Conroy answered she tried to hold back her tears as she stalked off back towards her witness to see if he had anything to add to his statement.

"Hey Conroy!" Warrick called and Conroy stopped. "You alright?" Warrick asked with concern.

Conroy turned around and smiled, "Yeah I'll be alright," she said and continued on her way to the front of the motel.

Warrick followed behind thinking to himself about how Sara would hate this case. That was when it hit him, which could be the reason why he on this case alone, Grissom knew that Sara would be a wreck. It usually was him and Sara working on cases together and he didn't mind it. She was very smart and a workaholic. The only problem was that she kept to herself and she had a short temper about certain things. You defiantly wouldn't want to get on her bad side, for Warrick knows she hold grudges, for along time. She calls it her "only flaw".

Warrick went over to Conroy who was back with Mr. Stench and told her he was heading back to the lab to analyze evidence and if he found anything new he would call. Conroy agreed with the same thing as Warrick walked back to his Tahoe putting his evidence and equipment back in his Tahoe.He hopped in the driver's seat, started up the engine and began the long drive back to the lab.


	5. Chapter 5 Past Friends

**Chapter 5 Past Friends**

Nick and Sara pulled into the parking lot of the lab and walked in hand in hand. Sara didn't want to detach her hand from Nicks, she felt safe around him. Defiantly after telling him about San Francisco she needed all the comfort she could get.

Both of them carried numerous evidence bags filled with evidence Nick had collected from the crime scene. Sara couldn't help as her emotions over whelmed her. It seemed to her that, that had been happening more frequently and it scared her, maybe it was finally time for the walls she built up around herself to come falling down. Sara knew that she should not have acted the way she did at the Crime scene, but it was out of her hands. As soon as Nick said he had a "personal question" she should have said no and got back to work. Now that she began her story she couldn't leave him hanging like an author does to it's readers at the end of an exciting chapter, she had to finish it, but she didn't tell him _everything_ that happened.

"Sara," Nick asked noticing she was off in her own world again. "Sara" he called again and squeezed her hand as she finally gave him a glance.

"Yeah?" Sara replied, she sounded like a scared little girl.

"You want prints or bullets?" he asked holding up the evidence bags.

"Prints," Sara said, she never wanted to see that bullet again.

Nick handed her the print evidence and gave her a peck on the cheek as he went in the other direction towards bullets and Sara towards the print lab.

Sara walked down the hallway looking at all of the other lab technicians doing their job on evidence from on going cases and that was when she thought back to San Francisco again. How she had to run the evidence collected at her apartment against possible suspects. Sara couldn't believe how hard that was for her to do, knowing that she was now apart of the crime. She made sure that her evidence that was found did not go into the case file, she didn't want to be part of that case anymore than she already was.

Sara kept walking as the sound of rock music flooded her ears. She turned and saw Greg in the DNA lab. The lab rat was holding a rolled piece of paper, which was mostly likely, someone's DNA results for a case and using it as a microphone. He was prancing around like a kid bobbing his head up and down and screaming like the singers in the song he seemed to be entranced in. Greg had always made Sara laugh, and that was something she needed right about now.

Sara opened up the door to the DNA lab as the loud music became louder in her eardrums. She walked over to the ledge the stereo was sitting on and turned the volume down as Greg's voice filled the silent room. Sara didn't expect him to be really singing along with the music and that made her laugh out loud; already she was beginning to feel better.

When Greg didn't hear the back ground music to the song he was singing any longer he spun around seeing Sara standing at the ledge next to the turned off stereo. Greg gave her the evil eye, and stalked over to where she was standing with a red face. Sara couldn't make out if it was from embarrassment or anger.

"Geese woman, I thought you were Grissom," Greg said in between Sara's fits of laughter. "Alright laugh it up, you found Sanders singing to a song, you going to tell everyone?" Greg said as he plopped a seat on a near by stool. He looked like pouting kid.

"Grissom's out on an assignment with Catherine" Sara managed to say and saw the sulking face. "Oh come on Greg, your the man of fun in this lab, if your depressed the whole lab becomes depressed" Sara said trying to cheer him up.

"I'm going to get you back for this Sidle" Greg retorted.

Sara smiled and crouched down to be eye level with Greg. She used her index finger and slowly raised his head out of his arms looking at her directly in the eye. She made sure not to allow him the pleasure of seeing the deepest thought right now, but enough for him to listen to what she had to say. "Greg, your the only guy in this whole lab who can make _me_ happy when I'm blue" Sara whispered and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Better than Nick?" Greg said with smile and Sara nodded.

"Although" Sara said standing up again running her fingers over the volume dial. "He does out beat you in the bedroom" and she turned up the song again as it drowned out Greg's reply. He walked right into that one.

"Thank Sara," Greg grumbled as she smiled and walked out of the DNA lab continuing on her journey down to prints.

Sara took another left and then a right finally making it to the print lab with her 10 prints Nick collected at the victim's house. She sat down in one of the roller chairs and placed a print under the scanner closing the lid waiting as the computer scanned the print into the computer. A few seconds later the print popped up on the screen as she hit a few key and let AFIS do the rest. Sara leaned back in her chair and waited for the computer to spit out a result.

Meanwhile Nick was in the ballistics lab, with their ballistic specialist Bobbie Dawson. The casing Nick had collected from the blood pool at the victim's house was completely covered blood, but that didn't stop Bobby from working some magic. He placed the casing in a solution and let the whole thing vibrate as the blood deteriorated but the casing wouldn't be damaged. Once the blood was removed Bobbie placed it under the microscope. Nick stood back on the sidelines watching everything happen.

"Go ahead and take a look," Bobbie finally said after minuets of silence. Nick and Bobby switched places as Nick put his eye down the scope.

"It looks to be a 9mm automatic," Nick stated not lifting his head

"I agree," Bobby answered with a smile.

Nick looked up and asked, "What's next?"

"I'll run it through IVIS and see if we get any hits"

"Page me?"

"Sure will"

Nick left the lab and headed towards the print lab. He had spent enough time away from Sara and any more time in the state she's in could be dangerous. He whipped out his cell phone from his pocket and dialed her number.

Back in the print lab Sara opened her eyes to the beeping sound of the computer making a match. Those double shifts were getting to her and she needed a well-deserved cup of coffee. She leaned forward in her chair as it squeaked pressed a couple of keys as a description came up.

"Elizabeth Valley," Sara said out loud. "How come that name sounds familiar?"

She read thought the rest of the report. She was 26 years old and was born in San Francisco; she was a CSI 3 at the San Francisco Crime Lab. That was when it hit Sara, she knew Elizabeth from California. When Sara was transferred Elizabeth was just a trainee, like Holly Gribbs and now she was dead. Tears began to well in the bottom of Sra's eyes, she had known that woman and that was when she knew her past was coming back to haunt her. He was tormenting her with the death of Elizabeth, he was back, and was coming for her.

Sara moved the mouse and clicked print as the victims profile printed out and she ripped it off the roll of paper. Sara then sat back down and did the same process with the next print. As the print was running through AFIS Sara was concentrated on the picture of the woman in front of her. It was hard to picture her dead, she was an excellent CSI and a very nice, easy to get along with type of person. Sara's cell phone rang making her jump as she unclipped it from her belt and pushed send.

"Sara" she mumbled, sadness was still in her voice.

"Hey," Nick said and guessed the sadness but let it go. "I found out that our bullet casing was from a 9mm automatic and that's it so far," Nick replied as he was walking down the hall.

"Well that's a start." Sara said and leaned back in her chair again. "Our victim's name is Elizabeth Valley, she's 26 and was born in San Francisco." Sara said and stopped, she couldn't tell him the rest.

"What was she doing in Vegas?" Nick asked.

"I have no clue,"

"I'll be right over, want anything, besides me?" Nick said as Sara smiled.

"A cup of break room coffee would be great, I'm kind of running on fumes right now" Sara replied.

"You got it, I'll be right there" he said and then they both hung up.

Sara put her phone down on her lap and heard the computer beep again, another match. She hit the same keys again and a police description came up again. Sara's eyes widened as she sat there not moving. He was back.

Nick walked towards the print lab with a cup of coffee in his hands and saw Greg singing to some of his music. Nick shook his head and continued walking, not bothering to interfere with his little party. He finally made it to the print lab and knocked on the doorframe causing Sara to jump in her seat.

"Your coffee miss" Nick said bringing the coffee towards the computer spinning the chair around and saw the tears in her eyes. "What's the matter Sara? Sara?" Nick said as he put the coffee down and squatted down to look into her frightened eyes.

"He's-he's" Sara stuttered and pointed at the screen.

Nick took a look and saw the description of a man. His eyes went from the screen back to Sara. He was confused, was he suppose to know this person who appeared on the screen.

"Who is that Sara?" Nick asked.

"B-Brian Peterson," Sara said and broke down into a crying fit again. She tugged at his shirt and that was when Nick got who he was.

"Was he-" Nick began to say and Sara nodded her head. "Oh my god...it's all right Sara, everything's going to be okay" Nick said soothing Sara as he stroked her back. "I promise everything is going to be alright"

Nick lifted her head and gave her a kiss on her forehead. He wiped away her tears and gave her a well-deserved hug. The two of them stayed like that for minuets.


	6. Chapter 6 Sticky Prints

**Chapter 6 Sticky Prints**

Catherine and Grissom were packing up the rest of their field kit when Catherine's cell phone went off again. She sighed knowing that it was Eddie and didn't bother to answer.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Grissom asked as they walked down the hallway, her phone still ringing.

"I already know who it is, and right now I'm not in the mood to talk to him" Catherine replied and Gil nodded. Last thing he needed was for someone to over hear Catherine's personal problems, well problem.

The coroner came rolling down the hallway as Catherine smiled at David. He smiled back, staring at the two of them with tired eyes and using all of his energy to push the gurney down the hall to the body. Both Catherine and Grissom knew that it was because of the numerous dead body calls in one night. Never has Vegas shown so much death in a span of 24 hours.

"Poor David," Grissom said as they were back out in the main bar area, music still blaring through the speakers mounted up on the ceiling.

"I'm going to get the security tapes and I'll meet you at the Tahoe?" Catherine said and Grissom nodded as he headed out of the club.

Catherine headed back over to the bar, seeing Brad was still there washing out the shot glasses. By now the police officers would have been done with all of the statements taken from the dancers and they would soon be back out on the stage shaking their butt for some money, even though about 3/4's of the customers had already bolted out of the club.

She shook her head knowing that she did that for a living, and was actually feeling a little bit embarrassed. Of course the club it self has not changed in 10 years, but the dancers keep getting younger and younger. She started here when she was 25 and quit when and quit when she was 32. Now she was 42 years old and she seemed ancient to the trade. Of course the trade has not changed, and if she really wanted to she probably could still go up on stage and go back 10 years and get some money out of the desperate men.

"Thinking of the past Kit Kat?" Brad asked seeing the CSI's eyes glued to the women swaying their hips to the music up on stage.

"Yeah, memories I really don't want" Catherine replied and popped a squat on one of the bar stools. "Brad, I need the security tapes from tonight," Catherine asked.

"Sure I'll get them for you, 1 second" Brad replied. He disappeared into the back and came back a few moments later with a bag full of black VCR tapes.

"Enough eyes Brad?" Catherine said as she grabbed the bag that weighed just as much as her filed kit.

"Well, if I have legal troubles I'll have something that doesn't try to twist the story to benefit him or her self," Brad said with a smile.

"Thanks Brad hope to talk to you again soon, when I'm off duty." Catherine said and watched as David came rolling past with the exotic dancers body on the stretcher, covered with a white sheet. She turned back to Brad who was watching the body roll on by and he shook his head.

"What a shame, I mean this girls might be desperate for money, but there is no need for anyone to commit murder to anyone. You are going to catch who did this right Cath?" Brad asked.

"I'm going to try my best Brad." Catherine said and then smiled. "You know this club is different when your not one of the dancers" she replied. "It's not as bad, since you don't see the background of the club and the girls"

"Tough town, and tough business. You better go, your husbands out there waiting for you" Brad said and Catherine shot him a look.

"Oh, he's not my husband, he's my..." Catherine stopped, she wasn't sure how to explain. "He's just Grissom" she said with a smile.

Catherine walked out of the club with her case and bag full of tapes. She was thinking the whole time about what Brad had said, she and Grissom being husband and wife. Of course they were now lovers, but she never thought of them extending the relationship to marriage. Catherine wondered what it would be like married to Gil Grissom.

Catherine was so deep in thought that she almost walked right past the Tahoe, the honk of the horn snapped her back to reality as she smiled at herself and packed the tapes and her filed kit into the Tahoe. She then walked around to the passenger's side and climb into the passenger seat shutting the door behind her.

"What were you thinking about Cath?" Gil asked as he started the engine.

"Nothing," Catherine said smiling to herself about her and Grissom being married.

"Do you know the owner of the club?" Grissom asked as he backed out of the parking lot and headed back down the "strip" of Vegas towards the Crime Lab.

"Dream Dolls was one of the clubs I used to work. Brad was my bud. He didn't favor me or anything, it's just that I was his star and he protected me" Catherine replied, glad that he changed the subject.

"I see," Grissom said and Catherine looked at him. He seemed bothered by something.

"What's the matter Griss?" she asked.

"Nothing, I was just wondering why you never told me about Brad that's all"

"Gil Grissom are you jealous?" Catherine asked with a smile. She was having trouble trying to keep back her laugh.

Grissom's cheeks turned reddish pink, he didn't need to say anything as Catherine bursted out laughing filling the silent Tahoe with her own voice. "It's not funny Cath," Gil said trying to defend him self.

"Yes it is," she managed to say and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "You don't have to worry about loosing me to another man Gil, we were meant to be" Catherine replied and smiled. Gil smiled back.

"Did you get enough tapes for us to check out?" Grissom asked trying to change the subject.

"They can never be to careful now of days, they have a camera in every room it's really changed since I was there." Catherine replied as she leaned her head back against the headrest of the truck and shut her eyes until they reached the lab.

Twenty Minuets later Grissom pulled the Tahoe into the Lab parking lot going over a bumped that jolted Catherine awake.

"Wake up sleepyhead" Grissom said as he pulled up beside Nick's Tahoe.

The couple walked into the lab as Grissom took the prints to the print lab and Catherine brought the semen to Greg's DNA lab. They both walked together down the hallway that would split after reaching Greg. Catherine stopped when she saw Greg dancing and singing to his music. She looked over at Grissom who looked like he was about to pop.

"I don't know what's funnier, Greg dancing or you being jealous of a bartender" Catherine replied as she let out a little giggle. Grissom smiled and nudged her in the arm.

"What am I going to do with him, and you" Grissom replied as Catherine nudged him back.

"I'll handle this, you get started on those prints" Catherine said in between giggles. Grissom gave her a kiss and passed Greg's lab trying to hold back his anger.

Catherine walked in as more music filled her ears, she swore between the club and the lab she was going to go deaf any minuet now. She went over to the counter and shut off his stereo.

Greg was about to turn around and hit the person who shut off the music on him for the second time that night. He has a hunch that it was Sara, "This isn't funny Sara" Greg said slamming his fist down on the table. All the test tubes filled with DNA shook in their holders.

"Slow night in DNA Greggo?" Catherine's voice came from behind Greg. He spun around face to face with the older woman who was trying not to laugh.

"Geese Cath, that is the second time it's happened to me tonight, you want me to die young or something?" Greg replied with rage in his eyes.

Catherine held her hand to her forehead as if she were an actress in the 1940's playing a romantic scene. "Oh no, if you died, who would do my cases DNA comparisons for me" Catherine said with a sigh as she began to laugh.

"I get it, I'll do you DNA comparisons now and play later." Greg said taking the sample from Catherine. "What do you got?" he said slicing open the evidence bag.

"Seamen, enjoy" Catherine said and left.

"You know if you wanted to you could be a great actress!" Greg called after her.

"That was my second choice for career if exotic dancer didn't work out!" she called back and Greg laughed.

Catherine headed down another hallway to meet up with Grissom in the print lab. As she was walking her cell phone went off once again and Catherine just wanted to throw it on the floor and stomp on it until it was nothing but little pieces of plastic and wires. She knew it was Eddie so their was no point in wasting energy in looking at the caller ID so Catherine just let it ring as she walked down the hallway.

She passed the break room and saw Sara and Nick cuddled on the sofa drinking coffee and talking about something. Catherine could see the tears welling in the bottom of Sara's eyes, which was something Catherine had never witnessed before. Sara was always a strong person, and she defiantly kept her composure at the lab. The only thing Catherine could see causing this sadness was her case, it must be pretty bad for her to be emotional at work.

Mean while Grissom was in the print lab scanning the prints they found off the doorframe. He was sitting there waiting for AFIS to spit out a match when he could feel something on his neck. He spun around and saw Catherine standing there with a smile and twinkle in her eye.

"Did you deal with Greg?" Grissom asked.

"To a point" Cath said as she took a seat beside Grissom. He gave her a quizzed look and then heard the machine beep.

Grissom tapped a few keys on the keyboard and a description appeared on the screen

"The only prints in the whole place are her own," Catherine said.

There case had hit a dead end.

TBC.


	7. Chapter 7 Sometimes the Truth Hurts

Chapter 7 Sometimes the Truth Hurts.

Warrick had been the last to leave and also the last to arrive back at the lab. He had no physical evidence from his case since it was a body dump, however once Doc Robbins opens up his sleeping beauty and he gets the blanket she was wrapped in, he'll have tons to process.

Warrick headed past the breakroom spotting Nick and Sara and waved in their direction, but they did not respond. Nick seemed to be preoccupied with something and Sara was sitting on the couch staring into oblivion. He shook his head and continued on passing one of the lay out rooms where Catherine and Grissom were going cross eyes from looking at pictures of their crime scene for hours on end. Warrick peeked through the glass and met eyes with Catherine, and saw the rage boiling up inside her. Warrick quickly looked away and kept going, picking up the pace and glancing over his shoulder to make sure she wasn't following him. Sometimes that woman gave him the heebie jeebies.

Finally after a nice 15 minuet walk through the lab he had reached the coroners. Now he could see if the good doctor had made any progress on his Jane Doe yet, since it was a busy night for all of them. Warrick put on some blue and green scrubs to cover up his clothing and pushed open the heavy steel swing door.

Doc Robbins was in the middle of the autopsy on Warrick's Jane Doe when the young investigator had graced him with his presence. The blanket was succesfully removed the blanket that cacooned the vic's body and was neatly folded on the slab beside him. The woman's clothing as well was placed in seperated evidence bags to avoid any more contamination and now she was laying naked on the cold metal slab, her eyes were still open yet hollow and her insides were now on the outside.

"What did you find out about my Jane Doe?" Warrick asked as he joined the middle aged Coroner on the other side of the body never taking his eyes off of the bruises that covered most of her face.

"I ran her prints through AFIS and they came back a match to an Evelyn Minore, from Summer land. She was rich, young and beautiful" Robbins said as he looked up from the work he was doing on his new canvas.

"The perfect components of being a murder victim in this town. Did you find a cause of death?" Warrick asked.

"The bullet wound that entered her back." Robbins stated and flipped her on her side. "It was a through and through so the bullet is probably still at your Crime Scene."

"I'll look as soon as I find my crime scene"

"Body dump?"

"Yep, out in the middle of nowhere, if I'm lucky the bullet might be there instead of at my unknown crime scene"

"The bullet penetrated her spinal cord just below the 5th or 6th vertabre and then pierced her left lung. That would have caused it to fill up with blood as she would of slowly bled to death. Her attacker probably wrapped her up in the blanket at that time, meaning she was half alive when she was wrapped and maybe dumped." Robbins described.

"What about these brusies?" Warrick questioned as he looked at the onces on her wrists and legs, "It looks like she took one hell of a beating"

"The bruises on her face and body are consistent with domestic violence. I found no scaring or old bruises on her body so she hadn't been beaten on a regular base. Probably a marital fight that got way out of hand and ended in murder."

"It's a shame, a young girl like this whoes rich and beautiful does not deserve to be paired with a prick." Warrick said and shook his head ashamed of what some men have degraded themselves to be, "Time of death?"

"There were no signs of any of Grissom's little friends on your vic's body so I would say she has been dead less than 24 hours. There was little rigor mortis and discoloration of the skin she had to of been dumped in the last 2 to 3 hours, 4 hours tops. I'll to a liver temperature test just to be sure." Robboins explained.

"She could have been wrapped really tight leaving less room for the bugs to get at her skin and start their feast...maybe I'll ask Grissom about that"

"That is a possibility, I have seen it before"

"Thanks Doc, I'll take the blanket, rope and clothes with me to do some evidence collection. Keep me posted on what you find out about her while you do your autopsy." Warrick said grabbing the evidence bags and leaving.

"Will do"

He headed out of the coroners office, or morgue and headed back to the lab and snatch a layout room, hopefully one that was far away from Grissom and Catherine, he couldn't stand Catherine's evil eye anymore. The thought of it made shivers run up and down his spine. Fifteen minuets later he was in a layout room, far away from the evil eye and was ready to get down to work.

Warrick opened up his field kit, ready to work and placed the evidence bags on top of the glass table. He reached under the table and flicked the light switch which lit up the underside of the huge table. Warrick snapped on a freah pair of latex gloves and opened up the evidence bags, starting with the blanket. He spread it across the table and sighed, this was going to take a few good hours.

Before Warrick even started his collection he could see that almost three quarters of the blanket was drenched in blood. He took out a swab from inside of his kit and swabbed an area of the blood and closed up the lid. Greg was going to have a field day going through all the swabs that he was going to use on just the blanket. Two grueling hours and 50 swabs later Warrick was finally done swabbing every inch of the whole blanket, looking for anything, just not blood but maybe skin cells or semen. Warrick would place money on the huntch that the killers blood was mixed in with the vic's blood or something that pointed towards someone as his killer.

Next was hair. Warrick took out his magnifier and scanned every inch of the blanket once again finding strands of long brunette hair and short black hairs. Warrick placed each of the stands of hair in a separate evidence bag and was about to fold the blanket up and place it back in the evidence bag when he spotted something small and metallic on the blanket.

Warrick increased the magnification on his magnifier and saw that the small metallic blob was the backing to an earring. He pulled out the post mortem pictures of the victims face that Doc Robbins had taken and saw that she wasn't wearing earings, actually her ears were not even piecrced. The backing must be from the killer. Warrick grabbed his tweezers out of his kit and picked up the backing placing it in another evidence bag. He would have to ask Greg if he could get DNA and see if it would be the break that he needed.

Warrick then moved on to the womans clothes. He laid out her shirt and her pants and could see the blood stains that covered the front of the low croped shirt and faded jeans. Warrick could see the bullet hole that was in her chest and the GSR that surrounded the small calliber wound. It was a close contact wound, meaning this was somewhat on a personal level. He checked her pockets and there was nothing accept her wedding ring, Warrick noticed that at the autopsy she wasn't wearing a ring, but she did have a tan line from having one on her wedding finger. This pieces of evidence was puzzling Warrick.

He decided to leave that part for a little bit and bring the rest of his evidence down to Greg in DNA, he would have a field day with all the swabs he'll have to run. When he reached the small lab he saw that the music was off and he was hard at work on one of his collegues DNA samples from their case. Warrick walked in and dumped the 50 swabs on Greg's desk along with the 10 bags filled with hair but held on to the one that had the backing to an earring in his hands. All of those were from one piece of evidence.

Greg looked up from the DNA evidence that he had received from Catherine on their dead stripper case and looked at the pile of swabs on his desk. "You have got to be joking," Greg said as he placed the DNA in the mass spectrometer.

"Nope, I need you to do a DNA profile on all of them. I hope they're paying you over time for this" Warrick stated and smiled.

"Oh I'll make sure they do" Greg said and spotted the bag in Warrick's hand, "What's this?" Greg asked as he pointed to the small clear bag in Warrick's hand.

"It's a backing to an earring, I was wondering if you could get DNA from it"

"I can try," Greg said sounding skeptical, "I'll get to your DNA as soon as I'm finished up the DNA evidence in Sara and Nick's case" Greg suggested.

"Page me when you got some results for me, I'll be out at my ditch behind a hunting lodge..thats a motel," Warrick said and headed out of the DNA lab leaving Greg to work some magic on those swabs.


	8. Chapter 8 Coroners Preliminary

Chapter 8 Coroners Preliminary

Nick and Sara were in the break room drinking some of the coffee that tasted and smelled like crap. They watched Warrick go by one way and then 15 minuets turn around and come back the other way. Neither of the times, the three friends acknowledged each other, work had consumed their minds.

"You know, this coffee tastes and smells like crap, who ever made it should be banned from the Mr. Coffee machine," Nick said to Sara, who was reading a magazine on the couch.

She smiled and tried her hardest to hold back her laugh at what Nick just stated. However she tried to hide it from her lover, for she knew that he would start jumping up and down on the couch if he realized she was beginning to get back to her old self. It was too late, Nick had noticed and began to clap his hands as the sound filled the silent room. Sara buried her head deeper into the magazine she was mindlessly looking at, this was almost the most embarrassing moment of her life.

"I made you smile and even made you laugh, well half laugh." Nick said and smiled, giving Sara a kiss on the cheek. "I hate it when your sad Sarbear. It makes me feel sad and then everyone's sad and it just turns into a very depressing situation" Nick replied and squeezed her shoulders as a semi-hug.

Before Sara could even mouth a reply their beepers began to rumble against their hips. Both Nick and Sara looked down to see who it was simontainously. It was Doc Robbins, he was ready to give them his prelim on there victim.

Sara huffed, not really wanting to confront the corpse of the woman on Doc Robbins slab. She was trying her best to forget the whole Petersen ordeal, now all of her memories were going to come rushing back like a flood when she sees the rigid corpse of Elizabeth. Sara tossed the magazine on the table and got up as Nick walked over to the counter and dumped his coffee into the sink.

The coffee, that was suppose to be a liquid came out in big, chunky, clumps that made Nick want to vomit. Sara looked up from grabbing her water when she saw the disgusting liquid being dumped into the sink and the twisted look on Nicks face. Sara smiled, trying to supress the gag reflex for as long as possible and then bursted out laughing.

"Nick, it even looks like crap." Sara stiffled inbetween giggles and Nick smiled.

"That's the Sara I know, " Nick replied and took her hand as they headed down towards the coroners office.

The couple passed Grissom's office and could head some noises coming from inside the office. Being the curious two they were, the two of them pressed their ears against the door and could hear muffled voices, it could only be Catherine and Grissom taking a 'break' from their case.

_"Grissom you're doing it wrong"_ Catherine's voice came.

_"Well your the expert, you show me how to do it then,"_ Gil replied.

Sara and Nick tried to surpress their giggles as they listened to their older collegues conversation from the saftey of the door. There was no way these two were talking about anything work related, especially after that whole make out scene in the locker room at the beginning of the shift. The young couple decided to stay for a little longer, just to see if anything else to milk out of this conversation.

_"You have to lift with your legs, like this"_ Catherines soft voice came again. _"I don't want you to hurt yourself" _

_"Okay, fine, we'll do it your way,"_ Gil said and then a huge crash came, _"Sorry I lost my grip"_ Gil appollogized.

Nick and Sara couldn't stand it anymore, this was just too golden, as if it was staged. Maybe the two of them knew that they had a few listeners and they were trying to lead them on to something, so that they would get caught. The two of them did not want to take the chance of getting caught by their boss for listening in on something that is obviously very personal. Nick and Sara stood up, taking a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching, brushed the creeses out of their pants and began their walk again, silently laughing about the whole ordeal.

If they even tried to pretend that they heard nothing that would be great. It was the best thing to do because if Catherine or Grissom saw them peeking in on them doing something private, they would be hunted down and fired.

The two took the same trek that Warrick had taken not too long ago, heading towards the morgue to check in on their favourite coroner. As they inched closer to the room of death Sara began to get the chills, she wasn't sure if she could do this or not. Dealing with your past when it has to do with a case is a hard thing to do. Sara always has a hard time of keeping her composure when cases have to do with beaten women or rapes, but this, this one hit her hard, and it would never leave, until this man recieves the death penatly for what he has done. Just not to her, but to all of the women that his had tortured, killed and mained over the years.

Nick sensed the tension building up in Sara as he placed and arm around her shoulders, and she jumped, as if it where a ghost. "Are you okay Sara? Can you handle this?" Nick asked as the two of them began to put on their scrubs, "If you can't, I can do this myself, I don't mind."

Sara glared at him, with the look that read, 'don't even think it' and that was when Nick knew that anything he did, it wouldn't work. Sara was determined to go in there and get over whatever demons she was fighting, and solve this case. She knew that when the case was closed, so would this horrific chapter in her own life.

The young CSI's walked in through the metal swing door and felt the cold air hit them like bricks. It was literally like a freezer in the morgue at all times, to help the bodies from decaying. The air was stale and the smell of potent blood and toxins from the metal bullets filled the CSI's nostrils.

Sara couldn't move, she saw the body of Elizabeth on the metal slab. Overhead lights were covering her private parts. Doc Robbins was slaving over the body, trying to pull out the bullet that was lodged in the womans body. She could make out the brusies that covered her body, and the blood tipper hair that hun loosly around her shoulders. Sara couldn't do it, she wanted to turn around and run, but if she did she would raise suspicion. There was no going back, she was now in the morgue, looking at a woman she knew from back in San Fransisco and a woman that had been a victim to a man from her own past. Sara knew there was a connection between the two, but wouldn't tell anyone, including Nick, until the time was right.

Nick saw the apprehension of Sara. He was afraid this was going to happen, that was she going to freeze up when she saw the victim again. It was just like at the Crime Scene, but this time their was no privacy to have a full blown mental breakdown. The best that Nick could do was grab ahold of Sara's gloved hand and squeeze it tight. It showed that he was still there for her, and that together the two of them were going to get through this autopsy. Nick began to walk closer to the body, with Sara half walking and half being pulled along with him.

"You paged us?" Sara said in a small, weak voice. For a second she had forgotten how to speek.

"Yes," Doc Robbins replied, as he looked up from the body. "Sara are you okay?" he asked seeing the look in her eyes, it was one he had seen on her when it was a case that was too hard for her to handle.

"I'm fine," Sara said and reassured the older man with a smile, "About Elizabeth?" she asked, trying to get this autopsy over with as fast as possible.

"Of course, Elizabeth was been shot in the head. I recovered the bullet that was lodged in her brain. It looks to be a 9mm automatic, probably the same caliber at the one that was shot into her back." Doc Robbins explained as he pointed to the bullet wounds.

"T.O.D?" Nick asked, still squeezing Sara's hand as her eyes never left the victims closed ones.

"Rigor was present, so I would say around 10-12 hours,"

"She was raped wasn't she?" Sara whispered as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Yes," Robbins said quizzdly, "Her sexual assault kit came back positive, how did you know?"

"The man that did this to her is a serial rapist out of San Francisco," Nick said and saw the look from Sara for him not to continue the story any further. "The CSI's in San Fransisco never caught the guy and he's our murder suspect in this case." Nick finshed and Robbins nodded in understandment.

"That makes sense," Robbins replied and looked again at Sara, "Did you work the case Sara?" he asked, as she was still staring at the victims face, "Do you know the victim?"

Sara looked at the man and tried to smile, "She was from San Fransisco as well, a CSI," Sara said completly ignoring the first question, and Robbins knew that was what she was doing.

"What was she doing in Vegas?" he asked, playing along, and not reitterating the previous question. Obviously something was wrong, something Sara didn't want him or anyone else to know.

"That's what we are going to go and find out." Nick replied. "Is there anything else?"

"Not right now, but I'll keep you posted."

"Thanks Doc, we'll keep you posted as well." Sara said just itching to leave this room of death.

Doc Robbins nodded and Nick and Sara headed out of the room, and Nick was still holding her hand. Robbins had noticed that and smiled, knowing that Sara was at least not going through what ever it was she was going through alone. He knew they loved it each other, and Sara had finally found someone who would love her just as much as she loved him.

As soon as Sara had entered back into the empty long corridor she could finally take a breather. Those 10 minuets in that room had felt like they lasted for an eternity. The only thing that had made her keep her composure was the constant sqeezing of Nick's hand on hers. If it wasn't for him, she wouldn't of been able to last through that whole ordeal. He was the rational part of her and she was the stubbron part of him.

They undressed from their scrubs, the only time either of them had let go of each others hand was to take off their latex gloves. It was as if they were joined at the hands, never letting go, afraid that if they did then they would never be able to hold hands again. The young couple headed down the hallway and towards the Police Department, which was in the opposite direction on the lab. There next stop was the detective bullpen so they could bring O'Riley up to speed on there case.

Nick looked over at Sara and could see the trembling on her bottom lip,"Sara are you okay?" Nick asked, beginning to get concerened.

"I'm fine," Sara muttered. "It's just- I don't understand why he didn't kill me after he-" Sara said and choked on the last word, it was too painful to say.

"Sara," Nick whispered and rubbed her tense shoulders, "Maybe it would be better if you didn't work this case."

Sara glared at him, "Don't even think that! I'm working this case and bringing this psycho down!" Sara screamed and thankfully no one was around to overhear the sudden outburst.

"Okay, just calm down, it was just a suggestion" Nick replied.

Sara huffed, and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "I'm sorry sweetie, I know you mean well, but I just need to do this, this is something that needs to be mended by him being in pain" Sara said and smiled. "Pain from me kicking his butt"

Nick laughed and Sara joined in. She moved herself closer, snuggling her body against his. Sara was frail and small compared to Nicks big and strong muscles. She felt protected and safe around him, and she never wanted that feeling to go away. Nick was scared, he just didn't know how he could help her. Nick was afraid that the maniac would come after her once again and finish off what he had started so many years ago. Nick wasn't sure if he could protect her from her demons or not.

The two, after a nice 10 minute walk had finally made it to the Police Department. Now they were on a search for Detective O'Riley. They couldn't see the plump Detective but the detective sure did see them. Nick and Sara stood out from the rest, since they were the ones walking around mindlessly.

"Nick, Sara!" O'Riley called out, grabbing the CSI's attention.

Nick turned his head and waved in the direction of O'Riley as he took Sara's hand and walked over to where O'Riley was sitting. Sara was beginning to get frightened, all of these men around her, invading her prvate space. The only man she allowed to do that was Nick.

"What brings you two down here?" O'Riley asked as Nick and Sara each took a seat.

O'Riley studied the two lovers. Nick seemed to be his cheer and talkative self, however Sara looked as though she was in a daze. That was something knew, and he wondered if it had something to do with her leaving the Crime Scene before Nick did. His thoughts were interupted by Nick beginning to tell him what they knew so far.

"We have a suspect for our case, his name is Brian Petersen." Nick began adn O'Riley nodded in agreement, glancing away from Sara and back to Nick, "He's a rapist that's on the loose. We went to the coroners and Robbins told that she was raped and abused in the last 10-12 hours. She was shot once in the head and once in the back. The weapon he suspected that was used was a 9mm automatic, Robbins sent the bullet to Ballistics. The Vic's name is Elizabeth Valley, she was a CSI down in San Francisco." Nick finished with a huge grin, he was proud of their accoplishements so far.

O'Riley looked awed at what the two CSI's found out about the case already. "Good job guys," He said and smiled at Sara, "Don't worry Sara we'll get him" he whispered and Nick looked at Sara as Sara looked at O'Riley. Did he already know. "Now, what's Brian Petersen's address and we'll go pick him up and interrogate the sicko." O'Riley asked breaking the awkward silence.

"He lives at 89 York street" Nick said and squeezed Sara's hand to let her know they were leaving as she was still in shock.

"Ah, in one of those big fancy condos they city just built. It'll be no problem getting some uniforms over there to pick him up. I'll call when we have him in custody."

"Thanks O'Riley," Sara muttered as she got up to leave. "We should get back, and check on that forensic evidence" Sara said urging Nick for them to leave.

"See you in a few O'Riley" Nick replied and the two of them left.

Nick and Sara headed back to the lab as O'Riley headed out to the parking lot to go round up some uniforms and go make a house call to Brian. Sara smiled as they headed back to see Bobby Dawson, their ballistic specialist, she had wanted this day to come for along time.


	9. Chapter 9 Evidence That Never Lies

Chapter 9 Evidence That Never Lies

Catherine and Grissom were in Grissoms office, getting frustrated with the new dummy Grissom had purchased for their case. It was suppose to be life like, and it was, down to the last pound.

"Grissom," Catherine huffed as she pushed away a few stands of her hair, "You're doing it wrong." she stated. Her face was flushed and breathing irregular.

"Well you're the expert, you show me how to do it then." Grissom replied. He was clutching the dummys jelleton legs in his sweaty hands.

"You have to lift with your legs, like this" Catherine demonstrated on how to properly lift something up off the ground, "I don't want you to hurt yourself." she said with a smile.

"Okay, fine, I'll do it your way." Grissom bent down to lift with his legs, but his fingers slipped on the dummys legs and the dummy came crashing to the floor with a thump."Sorry, I lost my grip." Grissom appollogized and Catherine couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright, lets just drag him over to the mat,"

Grissom nodded in agreement and he dragged him by her legs over to the mat that was set up on the floor of his office. Finally after all of that hard work, the dummy was now on the mat, yet not in the position of their victim. Catherine huffed and smiled at Grissom as she walked over and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"I was just thinking, that if anyone was listening to that, they would have thought we were doing something pretty kinky in here." Catherine replied and gave a light giggle. Almost like a giddy school girl.

There reconstruction work was then interrupted by Catherine's cell phone ringing. She sighed, not wanting to answer the stupid phone, she had a feeling that it was Eddie on the other line. Grissom looked at her quizzed, and wondered why Catherine was not going to get her phone, it could be important. After the fifth ring Catherine went to see who it was and saw that it was Eddie. There is no way she was going to talk to that scum for awhile. Instead she decided to throw her phone across the room in a fit of rage.

"Now, was that called for?" Grissom asked.

"Yes," Catherine stated, "It was Eddie."

Grissom agreeded as to why Catherine would be so upset. Anyone who had Eddie calling would have probably done the same thing. No more than five minuets later Grissom's cell phone rang. He remembered that he was at work and in the middle of a case. Grissom broke his stare away from Catherine and answered his phone.

Catherine half listened as she was picking up her phone and latching it back to her belt clip. She couldn't understand why Eddie kept calling her. Catherine specifically told him they would talk after shift. For him to be calling it must be something very important, but she knew that he was probably high and just calling for kicks. That was more like the Eddie she knew.

Grissom hung up and walked over towards Catherine. She looked sad and confused and jumped when he placed a hand on her shoulder. Catherine smiled, realizing it was only Grissom and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Who was that on the phone?" Catherine asked as she started to rearange the dummies body to replicate the body of their victim.

"Doc Robbins, are dancer is ready to be dissected." Grissom replied while he squatted down to help Catherine.

Catherine peered up at her boss. "You make her sound like one of your bugs."

Grissom ignored that and asked, "Why is Eddie still phoning you? I thought you agreed to meet after shift?"

"I don't know, I think he's just high and wants to irritate me at work," Catherine replied. Frustration dripped over every word in that statement.

"Well Eddie will be Eddie."

"That's true, no matter how hard you try you can never change him."

They finished placing the dummy in the right position, but before they could go any further in the reconstruction they needed the rope from Doc Robbins, as well as the report.

Catherine and Grissom left his office and walked down to the morgue. The couple passed by the layout rooms and could see Warrick in there working away mindlessly at his case. He was swabbing every inch of a very bloody blanket. Ten minuets later the couple had reached the morgue and placed on scrubs and latex gloves. This whole routine was so repetative to them that they did it absentmindedly. Catherine and Grissom walked into the morgue seeing two other woman on slabs, one of each was from the other cases this evening. They could see the beating on both women and the bullet wounds, they wondered if the two woman were from the same case.

Their victim was on the metal slab closet to the body cupboards. Doc Robbins was huntched over her body, stiching up the y incision that he had preformed to examine her insides. They appraoched the good doctor with caution, not wanting to interrupt his concentration and joined him on the opposite side of the victim. Catherine studied her face and saw that it was a macob of brusies and cuts. Someone had wanted this womans vanity to suffer. She could see the marks that were around her neck from the rope that was used to stangle her. This girl did not die a quick and painless death. Catherine imagined herself on that slab, Doc Robbins opening her up, looking at her insides and determing cause of death. If she was still an exotic dancer then that fantasy may of become reality.

"What do you got Doc?" Grissom asked. He noticed Catherine staring at the face of the victim for along time, "Do you know her Cath?" he asked.

"Yeah, I used to dance with her mother." Catherine replied with a sigh.

"Well your dancer died from strangulation." Robbins reported and handed Catherine the evidence bag with the rope in it. "Poor girl didn't even stand a chance. This was a slow and dirty murder."

"T.O.D?" Grissom asked.

"I would say around 6 hours ago, rigor was just staring to settle in."

"Anything else Doc?"

"Yes, he also suffocated her with something. I found tiny pieces of fibers imbedded in her esophagus lining." Robbins replied and handed her the evidence bag with the fibers in them.

"I'll take the rope you take the fabric," Grissom suggested.

"Sure thing, thanks Doc" Catherine said.

"No problem, I'll keep you posted,"

Catherine and Grissom left the morgue and removed their gloves and scrubs. The two walked back to the lab with each piece of evidence they were going to analyize further. The couple parted at the layout roooms. Grissom gave Catherine a kiss and then went to go and work some magic on the rope.

Catherine continued on down the hallway and headed to the trace lab to do an investiation into the white fibers in their victims throat. She knew that the killer had stuffed something down her throat to shut her up, so she wouldn't scream for help, the killer was smart, but not that smart.

Grissom sat down in the layout room and snapped on a new pair of latex gloves. He carfully cut open the seel on the evidence bag and removed the rope. Before Grissom even touched the rope he took photographs of the it tied in a noose. The shape still resembled the victims neck. Grissom sighed, he didn't really want to work another case of a dead dancer, everytime he worked one he was reminded that Catherine used to be one and she could have been dead before she made a change in her life. He couldn't get the image of Catherine staring at the victims face in the morgue out of his head. He could just imagine the scenarios she was going over in her head, how it could of been her years ago and not this other girl. Grissom was afraid that placing her on this case had been a major mistake.

He shook his head free of the thoughts of Catherine and tried his best to concentrate on the case at hand. Grissom carefully untied the knot and allow the rop to be extended out into a straight line across the layout table. He took out his magnifier and carefully went over each loop, looking for any kind of evidence left behind by the killer. He found some long brown hairs, which he suspected were from the victim but placed them into an evidence bag. Grissom then found some short black hairs, these he knew were not from the victim, meaning they were probably from the killer. Grissom placed those in a separate bag and smiled, finally something that might lead them to a suspect. His work on the rope was interrupted by the beeping of his pager. Grissom looked at he message and it read;

_Come to DNA lab alone, I have some results, Greg._

Grissom was quizzed by this message yet he complied and picked up his evidence. Grissom walked over to the DNA lab and could see Greg in his little lab looking over his most recent results and jumped when he heard Grissom enter the lab.

"What do you have Greg?" Grissom asked, "And why do I have to be alone?"

"Okay, the semen that Catherine collected at the club" Greg stated.

"Yeah? What about it?"

"It's from her ex-husband Eddie Willows." Grissom went dumbfounded. "That's why I didn't want Catherine to be here" Greg answered.

"Your positive it's him?" Grissom asked studing the results. His brian was working overtime, how could Eddie be a killer. The news would devestate Catherine, but she had to know.

"I did the test three times Griss, it's him," Greg said and sighed, "DNA never lies"

"Here do these hairs I collected," Grissom said handing the evidence to Greg, "Compare the short black ones to Eddies semen and page me with the results"

"You got it" Greg said and got to work.

Meanwhile Catherine was in the trace lab trying to discover what these fibers were. As she was waiting for the machine to kick out an answer she was thinking about their victim again. She couldn't get the picture of the womans cold, brusied face out of her mind. Working a case about a dancer, one that she used to be when she was younger was heartwrenching. All of her memories of her wild past would come flooding back, and she would have a hard time at remembering what was real and what was in her mind. Nothing could be worse then telling a woman you used to dance with that their daughter is dead. Doing the same profession that you used to do. At least she was glad that the woman who is the mother to this baby, is dead, she passed away from AIDS two years ago.

The machine beeped, snapping Catherine back from her trip down memory lane. She patiently waited as the machine made a print out of the results. Catherine snactched it off the printer and looked it over, the fibers were polyethylene terathalate. She smiled and left the trace lab and walking down the hallway. As she was walking Catherine was punching in the numbers to Grissom's cell when she bumped into someone. Catherine looked up and saw that it was Grissom.

"I was just about to call you," Catherine said and smiled handing Gil the results. "The fibers we found in Rachel's throat are polyester" Catherine replied.

"Good, I found some hair on the rope and sent it over to Greg to process," Grissom said and tried to smile. "I also found a set of prints at the crime scene that we forgot to process" Grissom replied. Just then his beeper went off again and it was Greg."That's Greg, why don't you go to the print lab and run these prints while I check in on what Greg has"

"Alright, see you soon" Catherine said grabbing the evidence out of Grissom's hands. She kissed him on the cheek and then disapeared to the print lab.

Grissom sighed and went back to Greg. He walked into DNA and Greg handed him the result sheet. Grissom had a feeling that was going to happen and he felt bad for Catherine. How was he going to break the news to her about Eddie.

"Thanks Greg," Grissom replied and Greg nodded.

Grissom left DNA and headed over to the print lab to tell Catherine the news.

TBC.


End file.
